The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1887-03-31
Our Evening Sermon
Love worketh no i'll to his neigh
bor; therefore love is the fulfilling of
the law Romans 13. 10.

O1c law. -lGUIuduS III.
There is that in this declaration Of
Paul to the Romans that is worthy
the careful thought of every man,
woman and child. The word love like
many other words of our language,
has been vastly misunderstood and
vastly abused. In all the walks of
life, from childhood's playing time to
the solemn and serious experiences Of
manhood and womanhood, that word
has been misunderstood. To say II
love you" ought to- mean a great
deal. The natural and easy inference
would be, that it meant fealty of
soul to soul, clinging of heart to
heart; that Che assurance meant a
close alliance of two lives, and har-
mony of purposes; in fact, there
night be called up such train of
conjectures regarding the meaning of
the term, as would give it very wide
range of interpretations. But does
the observation of the life making the
declaration usually come up to the
full measure of our ideal? We are
compelled to admit that it does not.
The word has meaning and an in
depreciation just as each life gives it
such.
We have known man to say to a
woman II love you" and he meant
that word in its fullest and broadest
sense. He meant lifetime Of faith
full service and trust, an undying af-
fection. Again we have heard wo-
man say the same to man, and she
meant sort of mingled affection and
pity, a half-hearted liking, yet feel
ing far removed from the sacred idea
Of love. In other words, she was will
ing to endure his company without
permitting it to become any tax upon
her affection. Still another among
the different degrees of love, is that of
the man of shrewd calculation. 81
love your says he. What does that
mean? Simply this: That he loves
you for just as much as he can make
out Of you, If he can gouge you fifty
dollars worth, he's fifty-dollar lover
if he can gouge you a thousand
| Jol1o,, mouth b;c oAaot;oo l1rooJonc
to the thousand dollar figure. You
become the object not only of his af-
fection, but Of his calculation. He
loves you for the good that is in you
the good to himself And so the
tide of love goes-occasionally in a
huge, overwhelming, embracing wave,
again in faint ripple that would fail
to cool the parched tongue Of a
friend.
What the world needs is that great,
whole-souled Christianity that takes
in the frailties of a brother, and casts
a forgiving mantle upon human frail-
ties. Did you ever stop to think of
the possible good that may come Of a
kind word? Did you ever try to COM
pute the good results that might arise
from little kindness exercised to-
ward fellow-man? We are willing
to admit that it is no trouble for us
to be friend to a successful man.
As long as the debit side of mans
ledger shows up strong array of fig
ures, it is easy enough for us to stand
by him. His word is law to us, and
his business integrity is unquestioned
Just as long as we have reason to
believe that he is prosperous. What?
Do you say that this is unreasonable
and unchristianlike in us? Well, ask
yourself where you stand upon this
great principle of love and right-deal-
ing. In short, ask yourself if you can
love man quite as we'll when he is
poor as you can when he is prosper
Gus? Is there not that about the pros
porous man that commands your ad-
miration to greater extent than any
thing that can be found in the char
acter or the circumstances Of the un-
fortunate man?
There can be but one answer to the
question. We have seen Christianity
and Christian profession put to the
test Of practical application to the
everyday affairs of life, and often, ah,
too often, we have seen it signally
fail to come up to the glory of the
Lord. What the world needs is a
Christianity that is right because it
loves to be right-not one that pre-
tends to be right because such pre-
tension is expedient. The man who
walks with God will not do evil to
one Of Gods creatures, but will walk
as nearly as possible in the light of
the teaching Of the Golden Rule.
There is no halfway business in this
matter. We are firmly of the convic-
ton that the man who will stand by
another in prosperity, and desert him
in adversity, is only fit for the reward
which is given in the solemn admon-
ition depart, ye accursed, I never
knew you." Love worketh no i'll to
his neighbor.
Love is the fulfilling Of the law.
Mans duty to his fellow man is COM
prised in the meaning Of the word
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